Wallasey athletes turned out for an open meeting on the newly-laid track at Victoria Park in Warrington.
The weather was kind and the sun shone for most of the day.
The opening event was the 80 metres, in which three under-13 girls took part, with Jayne McCoy getting back on form after illness to win her heat in 11 seconds, and Emma Derwent finishing third.
The 600 metres races followed. This event was for males only, and Roy McGregor, in the boys' race, ran extremely well, coming up strong in the last 100 metres to finish a well-earned second.
In the youths' race, Neil Henfrey was very unlucky to be passed at the very end of the race, and pushed into second place. Mark Cooper was sixth in the same race.
In the junior event, Steve Henfrey ran a very convincing race to win in a time of 1 min 24 secs.
The next event was the 150 metres, which saw Paul Beacall finishing fourth, close behind the, winner and running well.
In the under-13 girls, Lisa Eckersley, a relatively new member, did well to finish second in her heat. The 1000 metres was the next event, and in the under 13 girls' Collette Winstanley once again showed a lot of promise having in excellent run to finish fourth.
Emma Derwent finished a creditable third, Vicky Duckworth sixth, while Joanne Johnson, feeling unwell during the race had a bad run.
In the boys' 1000 metres, Geoff Nuttall led the field from start to finish, running very strongly just holding off fellow team mate Nigel Thompson.
The youths' 1000 metres saw Ian Wiggins lead the Wallasey athletes home, with Mark Cooper and Andrew Pennington close behind; an under distanced race for Rob Howarth finishing in 3 mins 11 secs; the 300 metres race saw Paul Backhouse winning convincingly.
In the long jump, Paul Backhouse finished seventh, with a personal best jump of 4.55 metres, and Mike King in ninth.
A pleasing day's running, and thanks are due to those who came along and gave their support.
Results are:
80 metre Girls - Jayne McCoy, 1st, 11.9; Emma Derwent, 3rd, 11.9; Joanne Johnson, 6th, 12.8.
150 metres boys - Paul Beacall, 4th, 19.5.
150 metres girls - Lisa Eckersley, 2nd, 22.4; Jayne McCoy, 3rd, 21.9; Vicky Duckworth, 5th, 24.0.
600 metres boys - Roy McGregor. 2nd, 1.40.8
600 metres youths - Neil Henfrey, 2nd, 1.27.0; Mark Cooper, 6th, 1.33.5.
600 metres juniors - Steve Henfrey, 1st, 1.24.0.
1000 metres girls - Emma Derwent, 3rd, 3.39.0; Collette Winstanley, 4th, 3.42.0; Joanne Johnson, 3.42; Vicky Duckworth, 3.46.
1000 metres boys - Geoff Nuttall, 1st, 3.01.01; Nigel Thompson, 2nd, 3.06; Mike King, 5th, 3.10.3; Dave Dasher, 8th, 3.26.
1000 metres youths - Ian Wiggins, 2.54; Mark Cooper, 2.56; Andrew Pennington, 2.59; Rob Howarth, 3.11.
300 metres boys - Paul Backhouse, 1st, 47.2.
Long jump - Paul Backhouse; 7th, 4.55; Mike King, 9th, 4.28.
The climax to the cross-country season was the National Championships at Newark.
Wallasey Athletic Club had a full strength senior team competing. First runner home was Bob Brimage, 848th, closely followed by Pete Lonsdale, 908th.
Dave Baker, who along with Pete have been the backbone of the team this year, finished 1098th.
Andy Skinner and Bob Phillips 1310th, and 1369th respectively, ran well and will now be looking forward to the Wolverhampton Marathon later in March.
Alan Johnson in 1502nd completed the scoring six and was followed closely by Tommy Cooper, who has been outstanding this year in his support for the club; competing in every cham-pionship and league race, Tommy finished 1523rd.
There were over 1850 starters the largest ever field to compete in the championships.
In the junior race, James Downey completed a successful season for him, running well to finish 369th. James is looking forward to the coming track season to lower his times in the 1500 and 5,000 metres.
Undoubtedly, the performance of the day belonged to Dave Pendleton, who produced his best run since injury to finish 156th in the youths' four mile race.
Due to injury and sickness it was a depleted youths' team. Thanks go to all who have competed throughout the season for Wallasey Athletic Club, and to those who came along to give support. Once again, the seniors have fielded a complete team in every league and championship race, for the last two years.
As captain, it has been heartening to see the club making progress and the future looks bright for the club.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 17/03/1984 by A. Johnson
Ref 2002